Longing and Other Stories – ARC Book Review

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki is one of the most eminent Japanese writers of the twentieth century, renowned for his investigations of family dynamics, eroticism, and cultural identity. Most acclaimed for his postwar novels such as The Makioka Sisters and The Key, Tanizaki made his literary debut in 1910. This book presents three powerful stories of family life from the first decade of Tanizaki’s career that foreshadow the themes the great writer would go on to explore.

“Longing” recounts the fantastic journey of a precocious young boy through an eerie nighttime landscape. Replete with striking natural images and uncanny human encounters, it ends with a striking revelation. “Sorrows of a Heretic” follows a university student and aspiring novelist who lives in degrading poverty in a Tokyo tenement. Ambitious and tormented, the young man rebels against his family against a backdrop of sickness and death. “The Story of an Unhappy Mother” describes a vivacious but self-centered woman’s drastic transformation after a freak accident involving her son and daughter-in-law. Written in different genres, the three stories are united by a focus on mothers and sons and a concern for Japan’s traditional culture in the face of Westernization. The longtime Tanizaki translators Anthony H. Chambers and Paul McCarthy masterfully bring these important works to an Anglophone audience.

Anything about Japan or written by a Japanese author will be one for me. I was born in Japan and I love Japanese culture so I requested the ARC for the book and was so happy that I got the ARC.

The book consists of three stories–“Longing” talks about a young precarious boy in a fantastic journey, ” Sorrows of a Heretic” is about a student living in poverty and fighting with his family and “The Story of an Unhappy Mother:” talks about the relationship between the newlyweds and mother. Each of these stories are told in a beautiful way with depicting the descriptions of Japanese culture and traditions as well as descriptions of countrysides, emotions and feelings said in the book.

In a nutshell, I will rate each of the stories

“Longing” – 3/5 stars – I really like this young boy in the story and do like the setting. But it was a bit boring to me.

“Sorrows of a Heretic” – 3/5 stars– the descriptions and the lifestyle of a poor Japanese family was well described in this book. But again it was partially boring.

“The story of an Unhappy Mother”- 4.5/5 — now that got me interested in the story. This talks about the newly wed brother, who makes a decision that will affect his own mother as well as his own life. The raw emotions, feelings and sorrow that both the mother as well as the son is facing is too real and overall, I enjoyed reading this sad short story.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this set of short stories set during the 1900′. Worth four stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.